"Is he..."

"He's fine!"

Gai's eyebrows drew together in a slight reproach from where he stood in the doorway, but he said nothing more. Instead he crossed the room to the window which had been left open by the Anbu's sudden entrance, closed it, rearranged the blinds, and, after shooing the other two jounin who had been drawn to the room - as he had - by Kakashi's blood-curdling scream, closed the door.

"Asuma... The only person who was ever intended to defeat Kakashi was me. I'll trust you tonight to ensure I will still have that opportunity in the future." Then Gai stepped out of the room into the hall, and closed the door, leaving him alone on the bed with Kakashi.

Damn it!

Rivalries... Of all the things to worry about. And asking if he was fine... Of course Kakashi wasn't fine! Here he was, curled up like a baby against him, trembling uncontrollably. His night clothes and bedding were soaked with perspiration, and no matter how he tried to soothe him, his uncovered eye darted madly about the room, and his breathing came in strangled, wheezing gasps as he hyperventilated.

And there was nothing Konoha's famed sannin medical specialist could do about it.

Damn it!

Every time Kakashi dozed off in exhaustion, he awoke an hour or so later with one of those chilling shrieks, his body convulsing and contorting in pain... The first time, they had wound up with a full Anbu squad and a medical team here because they'd thought he'd somehow been poisoned by Itachi or one of his operatives unbeknownst to them. But an examination later, they concluded it was some sort of seizure brought on by the stress of the attack. The second incident had brought in half the jounin squad, since they had just gotten out of a meeting and half had scattered looking for Itachi, while the other half convened here expecting the worse.

That was when Tsunade-sama had asked exactly what had happened with Itachi and they had all come to realize the extent of the damage done.

Even Ibiki had grown silent...

When the Anbu interrogation Captain - a man who had achieved such rank not so much for his skills at interrogation - which were substantial - but for his own experiences and unique insights as the subject of such interrogations - cannot fathom your pain...

He was sure others had heard Kakashi this time as well, only they chose to keep a respectful distance from him and leave him some dignity, knowing that if there were any such emergency they should respond to, the Anbu guard would alert them instantly.

"Kakashi..."

His voice was choked as he tightened his arm about the man, and pulled him closer to try and stop his spasms by anchoring him against his own body. He was so tense... He could feel it in the taught muscles of his abdomen, and in the way he kept trying to double over which each gasp; it was as though he were in some kind of inscrutable pain.

The frightful thing was that he only thought that he was, and somehow those thoughts were enough to make his body react like this. This time was better than the last... Kakashi didn't flinch when he was touched, which showed he was at least aware that he was in no pain, and yet it was still so incredibly disheartening to see.

"It's alright now... It's over... It's alright..."

What the Hell had Itachi done? Eviscerate him? With a blender?

If that man were to show up in Konoha tonight, Jiraiya and Tsunade would probably be the only ones with the guts to face off against him right now. Everyone else was far too unnerved by the sounds of Kakashi's screams and the helpless sight he cut. And even they might decide to cut their losses and run off together into the sunset of bars, spas, and casinos.

"... h... e..."

"He's not here... It's alright... He's gone..."

He soothed, and crooned, letting his hands rub up and down the back that quivered against him. It was only because they were alone this time that Kakashi allowed himself to be held like this... When the medical team was there, Kakashi pushed him off and forced himself to push those memories from his mind to try and appear calm. Only, pretending it wasn't real didn't help him cope with the reality that it had seemed to him. He had tried to pretend it didn't matter when he was first hit with this attack, and that was what Tsunade thought had done him in.

Just like when Obito...